I cover the video game industry, write about gamers, and review video games.
You can follow me on Twitter and hit me up there if you have any questions or comments you'd like to chat about.
Disclosure: Many of the video games I review were provided as free review copies. This does not influence my coverage or reviews of these games.
I do not own stock in any of the companies I cover. I do not back any Kickstarter projects related to video games. I do not fund anyone in the industry on Patreon.

What If 'Borderlands 2' Had Been A Third-Person Cover Shooter?

Imagine if Borderlands 2 had been a third-person shooter. How would the game have been different?

There was a time when I thought the only way to properly do a shooter was in first-person. Third-person shooters felt too clunky and not intimate enough.

I still feel this way to some extent, but after playing Zero in Borderlands 2, I’ve begun to wonder what that game would have been like had it been a third-person cover shooter.

Zero, in particular, has a lot of melee options.

If you’re in co-op and watch another player slicing and dicing away with the ninja-assassin, it looks pretty cool. In fact, I think it looks a lot cooler than when you’re actually doing the slicing and dicing yourself.

So imagine a hypothetical Borderlands 2 snapped out of the first-person and into a third-person perspective. The art style and graphics are all the same, the writing and dialogue, the looting and the questing remain (mostly) intact.

The only change is the perspective.

Would this work? How would it change the game? I imagine the change would actually be quite profound.

Already, Borderlands 2 uses third-person when driving, and this works pretty well – better in many ways than attempting to drive around in first-person.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

That would be pretty great. Cover shooters are generally more defensive (or at least they’re supposed to be), and defense leads to more interesting tactics. All of that would probably make the game more interesting to me.

Borderlands was fun (really fun), but it got too old too quickly for me. The powers never seemed to amount to much more than flash since you were basically mowing down enemies without much thought. Being more tactical would add some longevity that a bazillion guns and crazy powers just can’t do for me. (btw, I’m talking about Borderlands 1. I haven’t played 2 yet)

Not only does third person make 99% of games easier, it makes them less skill intensive. You always have the added aim assist in third person, because you literally cannot aim as well as you can in first, and having skill in a game makes it more fun.

I think games like Mass Effect could have been better in first person, and you can still have cover mechanics. It isn’t a limit to not be able to see everything, it makes the game far more challenging and interesting. I’d rather be challenged, and as the second run through in Borderlands does, and once you hit 50, you are really challenged no matter what you do, because the enemies are smarter, stronger and better shots.

What would third person even add? It isn’t a tactical game, it’s a single unit game. If you had multiple units to control, it would make sense. But since you’re playing with one, you get magical viewing points you would never get otherwise.

I’m not sure why games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Alpha Protocol or Mass Effect needed to be in first person. They would have been far more skill based and less sit back and regen health because you can sit behind a wall based.

Interesting thoughts. I agree that the third-person perspective would lead to a tactical deeper play. But this would also probably mean, that the gameplay would become a bit slower paced.

I’m doubt that melee would become much more important for each character class. And that would be a good thing in my book. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely like melee in games, but for me Borderlands 2 is a shooter first, everthing else second, and it would be a pity if it looses that focus.

Seeing more of your character would be of course a plus for the third-person perspective. On the other hand the immersion would probably drop a bit.

That said, in regard to Borderlands 2 I think first-person is still absolutely the way to go, because it’s fits far better with the fast paced story and gameplay and even the visual design.

What–what if? It is and could be, but isn’t. Trust me the programming is there in the game and in the engine. But, the option of how to play is not offered to the consumer. Honestly, this purest gaming attitude about anything: PC purist, keyboard+mouse purist vs controller, 1st vs 3rd person, blah, blah, blah… it is as old as it is nauseating (this is not a critic of the article, merely a point made).

I have a Borderlands-1 mod in 3rd person without toon shading on my computer it is as much fun as it was in 1st person. The big difference that I enjoy, over 1st person view mode, though is seeing the character. With all the character skin options in Borderlands 2 it is an idiotic decision to remove the possibility of modding it (even more stupid than not giving the option programmed directly into the game–no modding necessary). I also have a Crysis-1 1st-3rd person hybrid mod on my computer (done and programmed by me: youtube channel itopal63), while I have no plans to release it–the same Idea applied to Crysis 2 and 3 (and why I wont play/purchase those games), because they did not release an SDK for Crysis 2 and wont for 3. So, my preferred hybrid style of playing is not supported based on poorly thought-out corporate decisions. What could be better than seeing that Nanosuit pummel someone or pick up a minigun and blast away. Hiding the star of the show (because of 1st person mode only) simply doesn’t make sense. It didn’t in the Crysis series and doesn’t in any game that has a long or open-world campaign mode.

It wouldn’t make sense in the Gears, Mass effect, Resident Evil or the like, and true to form those are technically hybrids. How are you going to aim when you snipe if the game logic doesn’t auto-switch to 1st person. And, wouldn’t it be nice if there was a 1st person Gears mode option you could switch to if you wanted. The point here is user choice.

Missing user choices in any open campaign mode just doesn’t make sense. Feel free if you’re a 1st person purest to play it your way. The rest of us who would prefer the option (without having to mod it) will play it our way. BK logic for the win!

Mr. Kain, I’m normally a big fan of your blog, but this entry feels very, well, inflammatory. The only 3rd person segment of the game are the driving segments which operate under what has been called since ME1 used it, “crappy warthog controls” as they’ve very rarely if ever been used well outside of Halo. The entire joy of Borderlands is that’s it’s fast and zany; you might as well argue that we should give Dark Souls a rocket jump and wall running as to make Borderlands another chest high wall simulator.

This entry isn’t inflammatory. Not everybody likes the first person perspective. I personally hate it. It is the reason I will not buy Borderlands 2 and will probably pass on Dishonored, no matter how great it ends up being. I want the option to switch between perspectives depending on the situation in the game. Give me the option!

The option doesn’t make sense for 90% of games. If a game is designed correctly, with either 3rd person or 1st person being the main viewpoint, the game should use that to it’s own advantage.

A first person game should about the player character and actual skill in using weapons, pinpoint shooting exactly where you’re going, with or without weapon accuracy being an issue. And it should be harder to see where enemies are, because you should be having your first person experience not telling you absolutely everything you need to know. You should be given perhaps weaker and less smart enemies, who gain the same perspective that you have, so they also don’t know where everything is exactly and cannot see everything.

A third person game should be more about tactics and strategy, rather than direct skill in combat. You should know where enemies are and see more than the first person view can see, that way you can plan around them and hopefully use environmental abilities more and perhaps dodge/avoid/evade enemies, much like stealth games do. It gives you more information, but you should then be countered with stronger or more intelligent enemies and use of the environment as a huge bonus.

The philosophy of Borderlands 2 is that of the first person, everyone doesn’t know everything, and you have to literally use more skill because of that.

The philosophy of Alpha Protocol/Deus Ex: Human Revolution is that of third person, where you use your environment and abilities more than just run and gun.

The philosophy of Skyrim doesn’t exist. You can change willy nilly, removing any of the bonuses of either design philosophy and trying to give everyone everything at once, losing mechanics they should be working on.

3rd person feels like there should be environmental challenges, and that would be interesting for Borderlands, but since it is basically just a shoot and loot, with little character interaction, I’m thinking the 1st person perspective helps keep it more personal (as in, it’s you running around shooting and looting, and not the character, or in other words you are actively inhabiting your character – much in the way that in Half-Life you become Gordon Freeman).

I personally prefer 3rd person, because I like to see the character that I’ve created changing and carrying out my actions in front of me; and, also, because 3rd person suits a more story driven tale, and as a gamer I like good stories.

And how do you do a 3rd person cover shooter in an open outdoor areas of Borderlands 2? Do you put rectangular rocks facing every direction every few feet in the middle of a desert? Ever wonder why mass effect was a linear corridor crawler?

There are 3rd person view hacks out there; I’ve been looking for discussion on why the option isn’t there, but all I can find is trolls saying “third person is bad and you’re a bad person for wanting it.” Ugh.

Personally, I’d love a third-person view! I very much prefer being able to see my character.